Daily News from New York, New York • 3

Monday, October 8, 1990 DAILY NEWS eadboard cost 11G: mag By ANDREW KIRTZMAN Dairy News Siaff Writer Mayor Dinkins has been sleeping in style. Ilizzoner's aides had the city's Human Resources Administration the welfare agency build the mayor an zme. The news comes after a week in which Dinkins proposed tax increases to pay for $11,500 cherry-wood headboard for the master bedroom at Gracie Mansion, says this week's Newsweek maga-. im ii w-jju nnuymni-amtuniM iiiwmu i.iu u.mum. hjhw nui numpr donated by the Gracie Mansion Conservancy, a nonprofit group.

That was the last he beard of it until now, Dinkins said. "The curator and people who handle those things made those judgments I learned of it alter the fact." said Dinkins. "I don't know what personnel did it to say HRA did it doesn't mean these are people who'd otherwise be processing applications for welfare. Koch took old set "I wish someone would ask me why I don't seek reimbursement of the $3,000 or $9,000 I spent for the bedroom suite," he added. "No questions have come to me in that regard." Another mayoral spokeswoman, Jennifer Kimball, said the headboard was delivered Friday.

She said the mayor needed the set "because Mayor (Ed) Koch took the bedroom set when he left Gracie Mansion." Custom headboards can cost several thousand dollars, but at Furniture in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, yesterday, wood veneer headboards were selling for as low as $99. Shoppers can spend as much as $350 for a snazzy Victorian model. 'I myself wouldn't spend $11,500 on a headboard." said Wayne, a salesman. Newsweek also reports that HRA employes have been used at the mansion to do at least $13,000 worth of painting and decorating work. Dinkins has come under criticism for his high-brow tastes, particularly his fondness for tuxedos.

In August, the mayor shed his 1983 Cadillac and leased, at city expense, a 1990 Cadillac Fleetwood with deluxe wide lower body chrome side panels and wire wheel covers. more police and said the fiscal crisis may force him to lay off 15.000 city workers. Dinkins yesterday maintained he had no personal knowledge of the matter, but his press spokesman later called the magazine story "a gross misrepresentation of the circumstances." A work order reprinted in the magazine shows 266 hours were spent constructing a headboard for Dinkins' bedroom at a cost of $8,484.12, including $190.56 in materials. 500 hrs. of labor? Total labor hours will hit 500 when the final bill comes due at $23 per hour, or $11,500, the magazine asserts.

That's 14 weeks of work for an HRA carpenter. Tony Fuller, Newsweek senior editor, said mayoral aides did not dispute the figures last week. But mayoral spokesman Albert Scardino yesterday questioned their accuracy. "It's inconceivable it took $11,500 of labor to assemble what is a $1,600 retail price piece of furniture," he said. No idea Dinkins.

bristling at questions, yesterday said he had no knowledge of the headboard's cost or who built it He said he and his wife. Joyce, paid almost $9,000 for a bedroom set that matched the mansion's Federalist period theme when they moved into Gracie Mansion. When the manufacturer said he no longer made headboards to match the rest of the set. Dinkins said. Gracie Mansion's curator had a city agency build it with materials A it.

v. i -X -s- i I I jJo.MF-fea BED BORED? Mayor Dinkins, besieged by hoopla over his headboard, waves to spectators on Fifth Ave. yesterday as he marched in Pulaski Day Parade. And it was a great day for it. See pages 14-15.

ANTHONY KSCATORE DAILY KES By MARCIA KRAMER Daiiy Ne.vs City Hail Bureau Chief The 15,000 layoffs recommended by City Budget Director Philip Michael may be just the beginning of a painful municipal belt-tightening process that could deal a body blow to the quality of life in New York. And for the crowds expected here for the Democratic National Con- York City was on the verge of bankruptcy. Interestingly, it's both better and worse. House in order On the plus side is the fact that despite the budget gap, the city's financial house is in order. The strict budgetary controls put in place after the last fiscal crisis are still in place.

The city by law must balance its budget every year, and it now avoids such risky practices as relying on future borrowing to pay last year's debts. In the negative column, however, is that the city, state and federal governments are all in fiscal hot water simultaneously. In 'the 1970s, New York State was flush and the city received aid from both the "state land federal govern ments. expendable and they seem always to be services affecting the quality of life. Nobody wants to cut cops; life-saving jobs in hospitals and firehouses are sacrosanct, and revenue-producing jobs like ticket agents won't be touched.

Expect streets and parks to get dirtier, libraries to be opened fewer hours, garbage to be collected less frequently and highways to be even bumpier. Clearly, if city officials have a choice between keeping a firehouse open or eliminating a highway graffiti-cleaning team, it's the highway team that will go. What some don't realize is that the 15,000 figure bandied about as the Dumber-of layoffs that will be needed may just be the tip of Ihe iceberg. 't'J HI 1 Most fiscal experts predict that many more than 15,000 layoffs will be needed to close a gap of $1.4 billion and climbing in the fiscal year that begins July 1. But that will be in addition to hundreds of millions of dollars in service cuts that by their very nature could eliminate additional jobs.

Slow to hike taxes Of course there's always the threat of more taxes, but city officials are hesitant to seek large new taxes since $822 million in new levies were enacted to balance the budget in June. And Mayor Dinkins is seeking an additional $644 million in taxes to finance his new police and criminal justice package. This fiscal mess differs from the crisis of the mid-1970s! Vhen 'New I 54 6 it 3 vention, the Grammy awards and other high-profile events, the Big Apple could more resemble a crab-apple if officials aren't careful about where they aim the budget ax. That's because the things most of-, ten cut are the ones deemed most Tt 9 it a.